Annual Report

Board and staff discussions that occurred over the year encompassed the history of redlining and how its artifacts found their way into the ways in which philanthropy operates, including the operating approaches of REACH.

This reflection, while necessary, can be painful. The REACH Board and our staff spent time in conversation reflecting on the longstanding rules and practices we leaned on that, intentionally or not, kept out organizations in our community that were best positioned to understand and address population health and social determinants of health. The net effect was that some of our practices left a number of organizations in the position of pursuing their missions with less access to resources that would have enhanced their efforts.

It’s gratifying to work with a Board of Directors that embraces these kinds of conversations and urges staff to unwind practices that were never fair. Staff has been actively examining and dismantling grantmaking requirements that discouraged people from approaching REACH. Those efforts began before the pandemic but gained momentum with our mission-focused discussions over the prior year.

REACH is now in the second year of a strategic plan with a revised Community Investment Framework that places health equity firmly at the center. It’s the lens through which we view our purpose and responsibility. Streamlining grant applications, dropping unnecessary documents, reducing wait times on grant decisions, and minimizing reporting requirements are just a few of the changes now baked into our system.

REACH’s portfolio of core operating grants, the largest portion of our annual grantmaking budget, expanded at the end of 2022 to include multi-year core partner grants and additional core partners led by Black and Brown leaders who are deeply rooted in community. In 2023, we’re introducing other responsive philanthropy practices and funding opportunities to support emerging nonprofits serving Black, Brown, Immigrant and Refugee and rural populations, and supporting regional efforts to increase diversity in the region’s health and human services sector.

Changes in our total reported grantmaking for 2022 were due to reduction in pandemic-response grants and a limited scope project to act as a sub-grantee for mental health and substance use treatment resources on behalf of Johnson County Government. We welcome those opportunities to support local government.

We hope readers of our 2022 annual report will be inspired by this work and lend their talents to one or more of the many outstanding REACH partners highlighted within. Quality health care and access to affordable coverage are the rights of all, not just the few that are well-served today.